Nouvelle Vague
"Nouvelle Vague"
Peacefrog

The basic concept behind Nouvelle Vague is two French producers, Olivier Libaux and Marc Collin hired a gaggle of sultry French female singers to perform lounge versions of classic punk and new wave tunes. Here's the catch, the women had no idea what the source material sounded like. Sure, it's a gimmick, but the vocalists' honest take on the songs makes seem far less hokey than it looks on paper.

"Love Will Tear Us Apart" features a fantastic blend of orchestration that make a somber song beautiful. The Damned's "This Is Not A Love Song" gets a hipster make-over with subtle guitars replacing the shredding leads of the original. Other tracks receiving a lounge make-over include "The Cure's "Forest" and "Guns of Brixton."

The only downer on the record is the reinterpretation of the Dead Kennedy's "Too Drunk To Fuck." The song is so forced, that the singer and various members of the studio are heard chuckling during the chorus. You actually start to feel bad for the girl half way through the song, when she's actually trying to reach the high-pitched wail of Kennedy's singer Jello Biafra. Then again she supposedly has never heard the original before.

What on first glance seems like a joke, is actually one of the most fun discs to come out of the French lounge scene since, um, well ok, so I've never heard anything like Nouvelle Vague before, with maybe the exception of the guy who covers "Crazy Train" during the intro to The Osbournes. Best of all this is a great CD to pull out during a party, and it's the perfect addition to anyone's space-age bachelor pad.

Reviewed by: George Koroneos
Reviewed on: February 28, 2005